It’s an understatement to say that Sen. Mark Kelly has an impressive resume. Navy Captain turned astronaut turned Senator and married to former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt, retired from Congress, and became a formidable gun control activist. Then there’s the fact that he’s a potential candidate for Vice President of the United States. What kind of family, I wondered, would produce a man like this.
1.
Heritage-wise, he’s a typical American in that he’s a bit of a mix: five-eighths Irish (as it happens, the same amount as President Biden), one-quarter Polish, and one-eighth English. In recent generations, his family tree has been concentrated mostly in northern New Jersey and New York with a bit of Massachusetts and Canada. Further back leads to Ireland, Poland, and England. In case anyone in Poland is curious, it’s Brok and Moszczenica that contributed to his gene pool.
2.
Sen. Kelly has three immigrant great-grandparents, one of whom was John “Jack” F. McAvoy who arrived in New York from Ireland at the ripe old age of 11 months just eight months before Annie Moore would become the first immigrant to arrive at Ellis Island. He and his parents arrived while Ellis Island was under construction, so would have entered the country through the temporary processing center at the Barge Office. This great-grandfather went on to serve in the U.S. Navy and lived until Mark and his twin brother, Scott, were three years old, so whether they knew it or not, they were following in his footsteps when they joined the Navy. Imagine how delighted Jack would have been to know that his descendants would one day orbit our planet in outer space.
3.
It would be fair to describe Kelly as pan-Irish. He has at least 17 direct line ancestors who hailed from Ireland, so a number of towns hold a piece of his past. Early findings feature Kilkenny (Watergate vicinity) with dashes of counties Kildare, Longford, and Carlow, but Dublin, Roscommon, Mayo, and Fermanagh are also in play.
Kilkenny stands out because one of his great-great-grandfathers, Joseph P. McAvoy (father of Jack mentioned earlier), was prominent in New York City’s Kilkenny circles and the Irish American community at large. A house painter by profession, he served at various times as president of the Kilkenny Men’s Association, the United Irish Counties Association of NY, and the New York Gaelic Athletic Association.
A profile of him in Irish American Weekly stated, “Born in Watergate Street, City of Kilkenny, he made quite a name for himself… He came to this country about twenty-two years ago and was at once prominent in Irish circles.” Because his parents were so proud of their Kilkenny heritage, it’s unlikely that he knew that he was actually born in Athy, Kildare.
4.
In terms of occupation, his ancestors did a little bit of everything. Among their jobs were asbestos worker, boot closer (that is, they stitched together the upper parts of the shoe), box maker, brewery worker, dressmaker, express driver, hat maker, house painter, iron chipper/moulder, laborer, mechanic, paper hanger, police officers, sailor in U.S. Navy, saloon keeper, sewing machine repairman, shoemaker, soldier, steamfitter (aka pipe fitter), and teamster. Hat-making was a family affair for his Kelly branch and it’s worth mentioning that his Polish great-grandfather was a shoemaker, if only because this occupation was shared by immigrant ancestors of both President Biden and President Obama.
5.
Most families have some sort of pattern that catches your eye. I was hoping, for instance, to spot some earlier twins in the family (haven’t given up on that yet!), but what I found instead was far more tragic. Both of Sen. Kelly’s grandmothers were first-borns who lost their fathers prematurely.
His paternal grandmother never even got to meet her father as she was born about four months after his loss, and his maternal one only had her father for 17 months before he was killed in tragic workplace accident in Manhattan. A steamfitter, he died due to “injury to spinal cord crushed between beam and elevator shaft while at work.” Sadly, this great-grandfather had lost his own father when he was only ten, leaving his mother with three children including an infant.
In each case, the widowed mother soldiered on, all the more remarkable when you consider that two of the three were immigrants. Suffice it to say, Sen. Kelly’s family tree is adorned with more than its share of strong women and he has ample reason to be supportive of immigrants as well as workers of all stripes.
6.
Finally, if you’re wondering whether you might be related, take a look at your own family tree. If you spot any of these surnames — especially in the locations that have been mentioned — you could be a cousin of his: Brien, Burns, Campbell, Coogan, Corcoran, Coyle, Donnelly, Doyle, Fishbourne, Johns(t)on, Keenan, Kelly, McAvoy/McEvoy, Kearney, McDonnell, Menton, Piotrowski, Puscian/Puszan, O’Boyle, O’Connor, O’Neill, Satchwell, Smith, Tully, and Turner.
One of these surnames caught my eye: Kearney. Why? Because it’s also found in the family trees of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. But even though Sen. Kelly wasn’t selected as the next vice presidential candidate, the Kearney coincidence can now claim an astronaut!
Leave a Reply